karthik.upadhya
Member
I received my Defiance II 14" six days back and absolutely LOVE it. The ordering experience with PC specialist was excellent and the laptop, both in terms of look and feel, is simply fantastic. Thank you PC Specialist.
Laptop Spec
Display: Defiance Series: 14" Matte Full HD IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU): Intel® Core™ i7 Quad Core Processor 6700HQ (2.6GHz, 3.5GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM): 16GB HyperX IMPACT 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 965M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
1st Hard Disk: 250GB Samsung 850 2.5" EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
M.2 SSD Drive: 128GB SAMSUNG SM951 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 2000MB/R, 650MB/W)
Sound Card: Intel 2 Channel High Def. Audio + MIC/Headphone + SoundBlaster X-Fi MB3
Network: GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-8260 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) + BLUETOOTH
I managed to install Ubuntu ( both regular Ubuntu and Ubuntu Mate) on this machine. The only issue with this laptop is its Nvidia Optimus graphics card. While there are other reviews and instructions on installing linux in PC specialist machines, none of those instructions worked for me. After several rounds of formatting and reinstalling, this is how I managed to get a stable setup.
Installing Ubuntu 16.04
*. This laptop does not have the option of MSHYBRID and DISCRETE in the BIOS and the other tutorials in this forum that require choosing the DISCRETE option at the time of install won't work (https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/foru...27-Installing-Ubuntu-15-10-on-the-Defiance-II). So, while running the startup disk, select Try Ubuntu. Hit 'e' to open the grub menu, and in the line that starts with Linux, type noveau.modeset=0 before 'quiet splash'. This will disable the buggy noveau drivers. Proceed with the regular install of ubuntu. After the installation, at the time of the first run, hit 'e' at the grub menu and repeat the above-mentioned step. Once in ubuntu, update and upgrade the OS with the latest softwares using the command
*. After the upgrade is done, download the latest linux firmware and install ( 1.161 at the time of writing this article, which can be obtained from https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-firmware/1.161/+build/10751017)
*. Next, download the latest linux kernel from http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/ and install.
*. Then open up a terminal and type
. Once gedit opens, in the line GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT, type
after quiet splash.
PS: if using Ubuntu Mate, type pluma instead of gedit. Save and close. Go back to the terminal. Type
Restart the computer.
*. Download and install the intel graphics update utility from https://01.org/linuxgraphics/downloads/intel-graphics-update-tool-linux-os-v2.0.2.
PS: install ttf fonts package if the downloaded file doesn't open
*. Open terminal, type the following code to install the nvidia drivers.
Reboot the computer.
Switching between Nvidia and Intel graphics
*. You can switch between Nvidia and Intel graphics from the Nvidia X Server utility. And unlike the scenario in the other guides (for e.g. https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/foru...27-Installing-Ubuntu-15-10-on-the-Defiance-II), the nvidia graphics card powers down when using intel graphics. This can be verified using the powerstat tool or the code
What works
*. System is stable and usable
*. Switching between onboard and discrete graphics.
*. Function keys on keyboard ( except airplane mode )
*. Suspend, hibernate, shutdown, and reboot. Never faced issues with this.
Issues
*. There is screen tearing when the Nvidia graphics card is used.
*. Screen tearing is absent when the Intel graphics card is used. However, there is stuttering when watching Youtube. The stuttering is absent in Windows.
I have spent the last week trying to solve the stuttering and screen tearing issues. Any suggestions on solving the issues will be very helpful. I have another 1 week to request an RMA. If I can't solve the above issues, I'll have to return the laptop with a heavy heart
Laptop Spec
Display: Defiance Series: 14" Matte Full HD IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU): Intel® Core™ i7 Quad Core Processor 6700HQ (2.6GHz, 3.5GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM): 16GB HyperX IMPACT 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 965M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
1st Hard Disk: 250GB Samsung 850 2.5" EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
M.2 SSD Drive: 128GB SAMSUNG SM951 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 2000MB/R, 650MB/W)
Sound Card: Intel 2 Channel High Def. Audio + MIC/Headphone + SoundBlaster X-Fi MB3
Network: GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-8260 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) + BLUETOOTH
I managed to install Ubuntu ( both regular Ubuntu and Ubuntu Mate) on this machine. The only issue with this laptop is its Nvidia Optimus graphics card. While there are other reviews and instructions on installing linux in PC specialist machines, none of those instructions worked for me. After several rounds of formatting and reinstalling, this is how I managed to get a stable setup.
Installing Ubuntu 16.04
*. This laptop does not have the option of MSHYBRID and DISCRETE in the BIOS and the other tutorials in this forum that require choosing the DISCRETE option at the time of install won't work (https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/foru...27-Installing-Ubuntu-15-10-on-the-Defiance-II). So, while running the startup disk, select Try Ubuntu. Hit 'e' to open the grub menu, and in the line that starts with Linux, type noveau.modeset=0 before 'quiet splash'. This will disable the buggy noveau drivers. Proceed with the regular install of ubuntu. After the installation, at the time of the first run, hit 'e' at the grub menu and repeat the above-mentioned step. Once in ubuntu, update and upgrade the OS with the latest softwares using the command
Code:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade && sudo apt-get autoremove*. After the upgrade is done, download the latest linux firmware and install ( 1.161 at the time of writing this article, which can be obtained from https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-firmware/1.161/+build/10751017)
*. Next, download the latest linux kernel from http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/ and install.
*. Then open up a terminal and type
Code:
sudo gedit /etc/default/grub
Code:
acpi_os_name=Linux acpi_osi= acpi_backlight=vendorPS: if using Ubuntu Mate, type pluma instead of gedit. Save and close. Go back to the terminal. Type
Code:
sudo update-grub*. Download and install the intel graphics update utility from https://01.org/linuxgraphics/downloads/intel-graphics-update-tool-linux-os-v2.0.2.
PS: install ttf fonts package if the downloaded file doesn't open
*. Open terminal, type the following code to install the nvidia drivers.
Code:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nvidia-370 mesa-utils nvidia-primeSwitching between Nvidia and Intel graphics
*. You can switch between Nvidia and Intel graphics from the Nvidia X Server utility. And unlike the scenario in the other guides (for e.g. https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/foru...27-Installing-Ubuntu-15-10-on-the-Defiance-II), the nvidia graphics card powers down when using intel graphics. This can be verified using the powerstat tool or the code
Code:
cat /proc/acpi/bbswitchWhat works
*. System is stable and usable
*. Switching between onboard and discrete graphics.
*. Function keys on keyboard ( except airplane mode )
*. Suspend, hibernate, shutdown, and reboot. Never faced issues with this.
Issues
*. There is screen tearing when the Nvidia graphics card is used.
*. Screen tearing is absent when the Intel graphics card is used. However, there is stuttering when watching Youtube. The stuttering is absent in Windows.
I have spent the last week trying to solve the stuttering and screen tearing issues. Any suggestions on solving the issues will be very helpful. I have another 1 week to request an RMA. If I can't solve the above issues, I'll have to return the laptop with a heavy heart